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| IH Viseu’s 6th Sponsored Walk |
2.00pm on Saturday 21st May saw the kick-off of IH Viseu’s 6th Sponsored Walk.
110 people walking 15 kilometres raising 4,000€!
By C.C.
The IH Viseu Sponsored Walk encourages staff, students, friends, family and total strangers to come together for an afternoon of fresh air, lots of chat (in English!), a food feast, fun prizes and some well-worked leg muscles. All with the aim of raising money for a local charity.
This year, we were collaborating with CAT, a temporary sheltered home for children at risk. There are currently 22 children in residence at CAT, aged 2 weeks to 9 years old. The hope is that the children will spend up to 6 months there, after which time they will either be able to return home, or adoption procedures will be set in place. The centre is planning to expand its facilities to include an educational playroom, to be furnished and equipped with materials which will provide stimulating surroundings for the children – the money we have raised will cover half the cost of this project.
The walk itself started and finished in the IH garden, and it was generally agreed that Route Master Paddy Greenleaf had laid his trail of breadcrumbs (in the form of yellow balloons with IH smiley faces drawn on), superbly this year as it proved the most popular route to date. We marched our way over the grassy ramparts of an ancient Roman fort, strolled through the cobbled lanes of Viseu suburbs which not too long ago were stand-alone villages and, lucky for us, still have flowing fresh-water springs where bottles can be topped up and heads can be refreshed, tramped through the foresty wild lands beyond the edge of town and ambled through the shady woods of the town park.
The final stretch was an easy sprint downhill with the wafting smells of sizzling barbeque urging us on. Not that the three boys first past the post needed any extra incentives. Although strict instructions had been given that It Was Not A Race, a neck-and-neck final sprint it was, ending with our second-youngest participant, 9 year-old Alexandre, elbowing our youngest participant, Gay’s 8 year-old grandson Gustavo, out the way to squeeze through the gate posts just ahead of Gustavo and friend Romeu. The more gentle-paced walkers meanwhile happily meandered some kilometres behind discussing everything from Greek mythology to galleries in Barcelona!
On into the garden then, where our long-standing Barbeque Queen, German teacher Christine, had hung up her pinny this year so she could join the walkers. Luckily, teacher Jo’s husband, João Paulo, ably stepped in and showed he can certainly flip a mean burger. Christine’s famous potato salad still put in an appearance and was accompanied by culinary delights provided by numerous teachers, ranging from Spanish tortilla to Portuguese pie to berry brownies. Yum!
As beers continued to be drawn from the ice bins, our director, Gay, took command of the microphone to announce “The Winners”. Local companies and institutions kindly donate a variety of prizes, ranging from printers to sunglasses to IH backpacks (hoorah!) and including lots of “doing” treats, such as dance classes, gym memberships, dinners and weekends away. Oooh, and a massage. The first prize goes to whoever has raised most sponsorship, with the others being drawn from a raffle – tickets for which are obtained for every 5 km you walk.
And then all that was left to do was the annual haranguing of Paddy over the fact that his version of 15km is in reality 16.3 or 17.9 km. This year’s happy haranguers, walkers led by Portuguese teacher Teresa, triumphantly whipped out a pedometer showing they had walked a grand 19.3 km! However, careful questioning revealed that they had in fact been distracted by avenues of cherry trees and had done a spot of round-about cherry-picking on their way...
Big thanks to the organising team of Gay, Carol, Paddy, Jo and Zita, and to all teachers and roped-in family members, who variously walked, cooked, did a lot of sums, appeared as if by magic in the support car with water just when it was needed, and spent hours tying balloons to trees and fences all over town! Extra big thanks to everyone who joined us on the walk – you did good, and we hope to see you all again next year!
